Thursday, January 31, 2008

The convergence of hand-held gagdets become more and more advance right now. After the convergence of phone and camera to media player and office productivity, now the GPS (Global Positioning System) technology has its way.

Recently Garmin as a company well known for its GPS product release their preview for the upcoming product called the Nüvifone. It is practically a cell phone loaded with current technology specification but with a builtin GPS system from the well known company.

Some said the user interface is the same as Iphone from Apple. From its 3,5 inc touch screen you can see 3 big icon: Call, Search and View Map. The idea of making GPS system available into your phone, IMHO is very interesting. There are a lot you can do with the builtin GPS beside of reguler things such as for navigation and finding places. For instances, you can take a picture of beautifull landmark with the camera, geotagged it (put coordinate information in it). The user may then save the image so they can navigate back to the location, or email the image to a recipient who can navigate directly to the location. Or take a picture of yourself waiting, send it to your friend so they will be easy to find you.

Garmin anticipates that the Nüvifone will be available in the third quarter of 2008. Specific details about pricing and sales partners will be announced in the future.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

These are something that you're likely to get from your mother or mother-in-law the 1st time you accidentally complain about small unimportant headache...and you already know they will say the same thing no matter how old you are right now.

Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. Actually it means your body need liquid about 8 glasses a day. That means any liquid from food, fruit, juice, drinkwater, etc. So you do not have to drink water 8 glasses a day, just try to have liquid minimal as much as 8 glasses a day.

We use only 10 percent of our brains. This assumption was made back in 1907. Just think what kind of equipments and how deep is medical science 100 years ago? Now, with all technology in neuroscience, experts believe we use more than 10 percent. In fact, high-tech methods of studying the brain have not identified any inactive areas.

Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death. Every parts of our body need energy to sustain their function. This include tissue regeneration. Once the body shutdown, there are no source of energy left. And then the dehydration of the body after death can cause retraction of the skin around hair and nails, giving the illusion that they have grown.

Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight. Statistic says that rate of myopia (nearsightedness) is higher right now then it was centuries ago when people read in candlelight. Read in dim light can cause eyestraint and difficulty focusing, but never causing permanent effect.

Shaving causes hair to grow back faster or coarser. Study shows it was wrong. Newly grow hair lacks the fine taper seen at the end of unshaven hair, making it appear coarser. And the fact that it hasn't been exposed to light may make it seem darker than other hair.

Mobile phones are dangerous in hospitals. Studies in England and the U.S. have found little in the way of interference and few serious effects. The study showed that no interference at all in 300 tests in 75 treatment rooms. In fact, some reports said that the use of mobile phones by physicians was associated with a reduced risk of medical error or injury resulting from delays in communication.

Eating turkey makes people especially drowsy. Some said this is because some substance called tryptophan. But the amount of this tryptophan in turkey is the same as it is in cheese and other meat product. And the true factor is: any big meal can make you sleepy because of a decrease in blood flow and oxygenation to the brain. And then, of course, there's the wine.

*The facts above was taken from a study published in the December 2007 British Medical Journal re-written by Dr. Andrew Weill, MD. You can go to his website for good information in health & medicine.

Have you ever hate some web sites that you really want to tear it up as if it was some crappy tabloid? Or sometime you just wonder if you have power to turn any Web site into a playground of destruction and/or defilement? Then you have to try NetDisaster. Just go to the web, fill in the URL of your victim, choose the kind of destruction you want and press Go. Voila! Instant (and sometime humorous) destruction present it to you the way you like it.Or if you are a die hard fans of web destruction, you can also install the toolbar so you do not have to go the web, just click your chosen desires and the destruction is yours.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Excerpt from the web: "Torres (the arrested guy) was driving on Turner Street Friday afternoon when he was pulled over by police and arrested. He was wearing a hooded sweartshirt with a skull-head pattern on it, pajama bottoms and fuzzy lion-faced slippers at the time. He was still wearing the get-up when he was arraigned after midnight at Lehigh County prison."A hooded sweatshirt with a skull-head pattern definetly is not a matchup with lion-faced slippers! Oh kid nowadays...

Sunday, January 27, 2008

It was a good result after disappointing previous game against Atlanta!

The game (1st half):Milan came with 4-4-1-1 formation with Pato as a lone striker. First I was a little bit dissapointed with this formation as I remember when Milan play with Catania in Copa Italia that ended with a draw. I was afraid Milan will play to defensive with practically 4 midfield player and only 1 striker up front. This became reality in the first half where Milan was not easy to develop the game as they want it. This worsen with Genoa play closely defensive with all their players most of the time stayed on their half and Rubinho (Genoa GK) played very well.

The game (2nd half):Milan open the 2nd half with fast game and hard pressure on Genoa's players. I was thinking that Pato will be replaced by Gilardino on the 2nd half. Pato have been struggling on the first half with some chances went away. To be surprised Carletto did not make any change at all. What is really surprised me was that Ambrosini playing very well on the 2nd half running wide and creating chances. This is the different between the game against Catania and tonight game. The 4 midfield players on the 2nd half played better and performed very well on the 4-4-1-1 scheme.I was mistaken that thinking about replacing Pato. The first Milan goal from him was really the game opener. And the key for winning the game for Milan tonight is Milan consistency after scoring goal and lead the game. If you read my previous post, Milan has tendencies to play defensively and become clumsy after leading a game and in the end loosing it. But tonight after Pato's 1st goal Milan, Milan able to maintains their pressure. And this pressure that in the end resulting in Rubinho (Genoa's GK) being sent off for handsball outside the penalty box. After this incident practically Milan control the game and Pato adding another goal after superb pass from Ambrosini.

Man of the match.Ambrosini surprisingly playing very well tonight even better than Pirlo. Kaka still dangerous although still could be better for his high standard. Oddo playing as a starting lineup and playing better than the previous game I have seen. But I think everybody will agree that Pato really steal the show tonight. Struggling on the first half, he was able to maximize chances he got on the 2nd half and keep the Genoa defense on their foot all the time.I just hope he will be able to keep up with everybody's expectation and help Milan reach top 4 position.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

I'm a long time member of Last.fm since the day they only offer simple services. I subscribe to the web just so I can show the musics I played/like to various forums and mailing lists I'm into. Just look at the widget on the right side of this page. The services then developed into more complex and sophisticated and evolve into something very promising in web trend today. I personally admire the goal and the core philosophy of the founders, and I think it is one of the strongest web social network today and still has many room for improvements in the future.Today as I read my daily morning routine web, I found news about Last.fm. As for 23 January 2008, you can play full-length tracks and entire albums for free on the Last.fm web site. Previously you can only play just the first portion of the song. And now you can freely stream every song you see and hear in the web. Last.fm claimed they have total support from big recording labels such EMI, Sony BMG, Universal and Warner so they have made the biggest legal collection of music available to play online for free. Each time you play one of the song, the artist of the song get paid. This way the artist can get the amount of money based on how popular their song is instead just one fixed amount which sometime can be unreasonable (too big so you spend money for music you do not like or to small so the artist do not get what they deserve).The other great news is, this "someone play your music and you get paid" scheme not just for those big artists from big labels. You as an individual or come from indie label can also participate in. Just sign up to participate for free. This is a great opportunity for bands and artists to get their songs up and heard by a lot of people and get their name for it.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

This is one of the game that I have been waiting for its PC version. For console version it was already been released couple months ago.

From Wikipedia: "Assassin's Creed is a third-person stealth game in which the player assumes the role of Desmond Miles, an average bartender who is the last descendant of a long family line of assassins. Desmond has been taken to a facility where he is forced to use the Animus, a machine that traces and recreates the memories of his ancestors during the Third Crusade. Through these memories, the player controls Altaïr Ibn La-Ahad (الطائر إبن لا احد, Arabic, "The Flying One, Son of None"), a member of the Assassin Brotherhood. Altaïr's objective in the game is to slay nine historical figures propagating the Crusades in the year 1191. (According to Ubisoft developers, all of the main character's targets are historical figures who died or disappeared in 1191, although not necessarily by assassination.)".

The developer, Ubisoft recently published its minimum PC requirements. And here are the gory details:In order to play this game properly, your PC MUST meet or exceed these minimum requirements:

*Supported Video Cards at Time of Release: ATI RADEON X1300-1950 / HD 2000 / 3000 series NVIDIA GeForce 6600-6800 / 7 / 8 / 9 series.Laptop versions of these cards may work but are NOT supported. These chipsets are the only ones that will run this game.NOTICE: This game contains technology intended to prevent copying that may conflict with some disc and virtual drives.( Source)

Let's compare it with my pc specifications:

OS: I'm using Windows XP Pro SP2, so that will be fine.

Processor: It needs minimum dual core technology???!! WTF! I only have Athlon XP 3000. I wonder if my mobo (DFI Lanparty UT2) can be used with Athlon X2 processor.

RAM: 2GB??!! Another WTF! It might be the first PC game with minimum 1 Gb RAM needed to play it properly. I have been invested in RAM with my 1Gb (2x512) Twinmoss Speed Premium (wich cost me alot back then, it was a premium RAM Hardware with low lat) and now I need to buy a new RAM. Heck, I think I should go with mediocre RAM instead this time. Anyone want to buy my old RAM?

VGA: Altough my VGA Card is listed as supported card (mine is 6600GT) but my card only have 128Mb memory. The game need minimum 256Mb pluck in it.

The rest: no problems.

So how much do I have to spend my money to play this game?

My old Athlon XP 3000 valued around 300.000 IDR. The new Athlon X2 64 +3800 is around 550.000 IDR. That means I need about 250.000 to 300.000 IDR to get the new processor.

My old RAM might be around 250.000 IDR. The new 1Gbx2 cost me about 500.000 IDR. So that means I need another 250.000 to 300.000 IDR for new RAM.

I could not find the price for my MSI 6600GT 128Mb, but based on other type price I think it should be around (another) 250.000 IDR. I could not find local computer webstore that still sell 6600 series so I'm thinking about 7300 series wich cost around 500.000 IDR. That means I need 250.000 to 300.000 IDR for new VGA card. This whole 250.000-300.000 IDR keeps popping around it starts to give me a creep :)

So in the conclusion, to be able to play Assassin's Creed properly I need money as much as 900.000 IDR!! Well it is still cheaper than buy a new Sony PS3 :)

It always becomes a hot topic about how people choose how they live their life. Not just about culture they took but also how they practice their spiritual believe (religion). I always believe as long as whatever you choose to believe or to do does not hurting or bothering the way I live my life, it is Ok.

In Islam there is one verse from Quran that definetly describe it well: "Lakum dinukum waliyadin". Roughly means: "Your religion is for you only and my religion is for me alone". So I do what I choose and you do what you choose, everything is fine as long as we do not interfere with each other believe.Well back to the story above. The girl said: "...It's my culture and my choice. It isn't hurting anyone...". And I must say that I agree with her......even how weird it is for me.

On 20 January 2008 I went to my almamater reunion back in Bandung. Not really into the event, just met with some of my college friends and having some good time. Fyi, I finished my undergraduate from University of Padjadjaran in Bandung. Majoring in Journalism from Faculty of Communication class 1993.I did not bring my DSLR camera and this shot was taken with my Nokia 6120 camera. I will post new pictures as soon as my friend mail it to me.

Monday, January 21, 2008

I'm a big fan of video game. One of my all time favorite is Pro Evolution Soccer (Winning Eleven) series. I like it because of the gameplay and player ingame movement is pretty realistic, although sometime there are some scene where the animation is a little bit "fantastical" like the one in this screenshot I took.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Want to know what is like being radiated? Want to know the look of the famous thing that can make an amazing cloud after detonated as an atomic bomb? Wonder no more! As you can buy it for your self! That is right! You can have your own uranium ore. Thinking about making a cool new prank at school? Or start creating your own nuclear plant for your home. Get it at Amazon! Yes, Amazon sell uranium ore. .......weird.....

Thursday, January 17, 2008

As suspected, Milan play with their reserves team. The only regular player only Pirlo who was wearing the captain's armband. Catania played well and deserve the outcome by stopping Milan advance to the next round (aggregate 2-2 but Catania win by away goal).There are nothing much I can say about the game, by putting most of their reserves players on the field, it was hard for them to find the rhythm and control the game. I'm a fan of offensive play, so when Carletto decided to play with one striker and fill the midfield with 5 players I shortly began to feel that this was not the game they will win. By placing Gilardino in front alone, I feel a little bit sorry for him as he was practically work alone. The midfield is too cramped with so many players that they didn't know what to to. Emerson and Brocchi play in deep, Cafu (a natural right back) played in wide right with Pirlo and Gourcuff try to support Gilardino up front. This scheme is suck.Milan has tradition not playing with wide midfielder (pure winger). And now they doesn't have it on the team too today. So I think when you play with one striker, you should utilize the wide of the field as much as you can. This is when you need a winger. Cafu might be a good options even tough he is a natural right back, but he is too old to run and distribute ball as a winger supposed to do. So in addition of having a midfielder to replace Seedorf (read my last post), Milan should find player for wide midfield position.

Here are some players that worth to be noted:

Massimo OddoWhen Milan decided to brought him in, I feel that was a good choice. He already played in national team, been captain of Lazio and so far that time was one of the best player in right back position. But it is rather disappointing performance he has been since wearing Milan's shirt. Not too much impressive for his standard.

Yoan GourcuffHe might be the next Zidane, but not now. Milan should loan him to other clubs and let him develop. It wastes of talent if he keeps play as a regular substitute. Let him play for other club in one or two season and see what he become. Just do not sell him right now.

Alberto GilardinoAfter tonight game, I come to a conclusion that for the good of Milan and him, he should be out of Milan. Sell him while the price is still acceptable. He is a good player but I think he just don't fit in with Milan. I know Carletto is a big fan of him since the day they together at Parma but looks like things are not going to well for Gilardino if he stuck with current condition at Milan. I will not be too surprised if then he will play exceptional with other club after quitting Milan.

It was aired live in 2.30 AM Monday and so here I am feeling sleepy at the office today. But it was a well worthed game to watch. After long suffering home record, my AC Milan finally bring the crowd what it feels to win a home match.Thanks to what I like to call it a promising performance as I seen better performance before. So here are what I thought about the game this morning:

Goalkeeper:Dida has been suffered for a lack of quality performance before. Based on this morning match I can not say too much about him as he was barely make any crucial saves. About those 2 goals, those are practically not his fault (more about it below...). Nevertheless I still think Dida has been over his peak performance and Milan should bring a new goalie to the team. There has been a rumour about some other Brazillian goalkeeper in Milan's list but I think we should bring home Abbiati instead. Milan has a habit of wasting promising talents so please get Abbiati back to the team.

Defender:Milan start with Nesta & Kaladze in the middle with Maldini on the left and Bonera on the right. The first 10 minutes is working well with both flank were not hesitate to support the attack. Until the first goal came up and Maldini's age can not keep up with his gameplay. Shortly it became obvious that our left back become vulnerable. I don't know why but the same thing happen on our right side. Tough it is not about the age factor but Bonera keep loosing position every time Napoli made an attack.I noticed from Milan every time they play their game, whenever they score first usually they become careless and change the game to be a bit more defensive. And this is exactly what happened on the game, they become careless and from a quick counterattack Napoli drew the score. And again it was happened when Milan lead 2-1 and Kaladze made an unnecessary tackle wich lead to the penalty and brought Napoli back on level term.I always think Milan's primary concern is on their defense line. Majority Milan's defender is over 30 years old. In modern football today where fast paced and cunning attacker rule the scoreboard, a fast paced and cunning defender is a must have for every team. And we don't have it on our team. The only players that imho should stay with the team are: Nesta (the most experienced and playable for 90 minutes player we have), Bonera (not as good as he was in Parma days but he can be better) and Kaladze (on and off performance but sometime he played well as left back). The other players including Maldini should stay on the bench.So please Milan get some new (and young) defenders soon. We need left and right back player for covering our flanks and tough center defender. There are a lot of name to be mentioned here but I read that Milan's top list on the summer include Zambrotta and Sergio Ramos. Both players I think could be a useful addition the team.

Midfielder:Milan's midfield are Ambrosini, Pirlo, Seedorf and Kaka. Gattuso was left behind because of injury. The midfield played well generally. We know Carletto like to play with deep midfielder to control how the team play. This role we know is Pirlo's. Then usually Seedorf and Gattuso covering wider field with Kaka in front of them behind the attackers. But because there was no Gattuso, Carletto bring Ambrossini to the match. This create a little bit of change in the game.I think Ambrossini is best played as defensive midlfielder to stop the opponents attack before it reach the defender. Usually he substituted Pirlo when Carletto want Milan to play more defensive play. But in this match Ambrossini has to play Gattuso's role wich is a more mobile roles then he usually play as defensive midfielder and Ambrossini was not doing it very well at the 1st half of the game. The first goal from Napoli was a good example of this. There should be someone stopping the counterattack at the first time. I think Pirlo thought Ambrossini will be there and vice versa. After he was replaced by Emerson in 69 minutes, Milan midfield become more stable and it contribute very well to how Milan play for the rest of the game.For midfield players, Milan should try to invest of some younger players too. Seedorf soon will become to slow. And so far Seedorf has been a very important player for Milan. Whenever Seedorf playing well almost guaranteed that Milan will win the game. This is because Seedorf can play the role of Kaka (attacking midfield) as good as he can play the role of Pirlo (deep playmaker). So everytime Milan's opponent manage to contained Kaka or Pirlo, Seedorf is the one that can save the game for Milan.There was a substitution on 78 minutes where Gourcuff came in to replace Ronaldo while Milan already lead the game by 5-2. Gourcuff is a promosing young talented player, but looks like he prefer to play in wider position. Beside, as long as Milan have Kaka, Pirlo, Gattuso and Seedorf, it was unlikely he will play as reguler player. So we still have to wait for him. So what Milan need is a midfield player who can distribute ball and create chances. Someone that Milan can look in to when Kaka or Pirlo play below par.

Attacker:The long waited duo finally came to play: Ronaldo and Pato. Ronaldo altough I think still a little bit slow made up for it with his instinct by doing positioning very well on the game. Two goals from him showed it very well. I think we should give him a chance and at least we can squash a little bit more of him before the age factor come.And finally Pato "the Duck". His performance on the game really remind me of Sheva. He is quick and explosive with incredible individual skill just like Sheva in his prime time. Yes he score only one goal instead of two as he promised before, but that one goal is incredible. Show how good his skill is by controlling ball like that and with a good attacker instinct manage to put the ball in to Napoli goal.Yet I think his performance is not yet reach in the level of superb or even good performance. I would say his performance is in category of very promising. Milan should let him play regularly, let him taste what it feels like playing in Serie A. Let him feel what is like being tackled and guarded here. That way he can improve and adapt his style to the game. If things going well, I have no doubt he will be the next Sheva.Do wee need another attacker? Not as important as we need new defender or midfield but Milan should get one more new player. Inzaghi and Ronaldo is not Milan's future. That left Gilardino and Pato (with Aubameyang in reserve). Pato definetly play, but Gilardino keep dispalying an on and off performance from the first time he joined Milan. He is a good player. I remember him from the time he played for Parma and he was superb. But he can not show the same performance with Milan, I guess his style not yet matched with how Milan play. So even there is still room for improvement for him, I think Milan should get one main attacker. What we need is an executioner and opportunistic type of player. A predator in penalty box. Much like Pipo Inzaghi and George Weah in his prime time. The rumor about Drogba in Milan's top list is really exciting. I really like Drogba style and I really believe he can be very useful for Milan.So with Drogba and Pato up front I think Milan will have the most fearsome attacante. While Gilardino will provide the best backup for Milan to make it complete.How about Ronaldinho? He is a great player and I like his style of play. But at the moment Milan does not need his type of play as Kaka already play the same position and roughly the same style of play. I do not mind if eventually Dinho join Milan but with that money we could bring several quality player for defense and midfield. So if Milan has money for all, then buy them all. But if doesn't, be wise and invest on the top priority first which is good defender.

Conclusion:Milan get lucky this morning. They face Napoli even tough they fast but they not supported by quality players. But that was enough to put 2 goals in Milan's face in San Siro. What will happen if Milan has to face the like of Inter, Roma or MU and Barca? Defense is the most crucial factor to be consider and do something about it fast. Find younger defender and also goalkeeper before terrible things happen.Pato is definetly Milan's future. Alongside with Kaka, Milan should do anything they can do to keep both players as long as possible.

Player of the game:

Milan did very well to play as a team. I think no one is more stand out above everyone else in term of performance. Kaka playing very well to made him always dangerous with the ball, Ronaldo's 2 goals was something for player thats has not been play for sometime, and Pato performance is very promising and this 18 years old score goal and create chances in his 1st time performance with the team. From those 3 I choose Pato as player of the game, but not based on his contribution for the team's winning but for his promising performance. He successfully made a statement from that game that he will be "something" in Serie A.

Monday, January 7, 2008

There are only 3 days that I celebrate. First is my wife birthday, our anniversary and Idul Fitri day. Occasionally if I don't forget, my mother birthday and perhaps my future kids birthday. So fyi I don't celebrate new year even my own birthday. So shaking my colleagues hands and saying happy new year on our first day job after long holiday is kind of bothering me.Heck, whats so special about new year? Its just the same as other days. It just a work of some king from Rome (Julius Caesar) who like to play with days, moon and sun. And of course want his name to be part of it.So what are new in this new year for me? First the important thing, my status is now married. Yes, finally it happened. I married my college lover and I guess I'm a lucky man now. :)And on 30 December 2007, I bought a new pair of snickers. I have a couple of Converse shoes before. And that day I bought a new Adidas Superstar (with blue stripes). I like the old skull look of this one and kind of remind me of my 80's era. Actually I almost didn't buy this shoes but my wife convinced me and I'm lucky she did that because I really love it. I bought it at a discount store. The suggested retail price is 800.000 IDR and I bought it at 350.000 IDR. So it was quite a bargain for me.

My new Adidas Superstar

The other new thing is on the last day of 2007 I bought a new cellphone. And that is a Nokia 6210 Classic. It replace my Sony Ericsson K618i. Actualy I never into Nokia and always have a Sony Ericsson as my cell phone. First, the SE W610i is the first on my list. But the product has been discontinued so it was hard to find a new one on the stores. But after reading reviews and hear my wife's opinion (she knows about cellphones better than me), I know the Nokia 6120 Classic is a best bargain. It cost around 2.000.000 IDR (roughly the same as the new SE W610i) but with a lot a better features. The one that really caught me is that Nokia 6120 already support HSDPA (3,5G). This is important as I connect to the internet in my home using my cellphone as my modem. The other features that I really find it useful are: has FM receiver (I never had a cellphone with FM receiver before, my wife always laugh about this), support Micro SD up to 2Gb (useful to store my musics and listen to it at my own convenient time as my wife hate my musical taste) and the camera is not so bad. I think the 2Mp camera is better than my previous SE, it even has flash on it. And lastly it uses an OS (Symbian 6 ver.3) so I can install various applications.